Turkey Recipes

I've been taking care of Tran, my cousin's wife who recently gave birth to a beautiful little girl. After I pick up little Aria from preschool, I drive directly to Tran's home. Last night's dinner was a one-dish meal. I stir-fried egg noodles with sliced carrot, sugar snap peas, baby spinach and ground turkey.

I love the sizzling sound of stir-fry vegetables and noodles in the wok. There was no need to add liquid to the dish as I cooked the ground turkey first and returned it to the wok with its drippings at the last minute to add extra flavor to the soft noodles.

If you follow my culinary diary, you'll notice I'm often challenged with what I'm going to serve my husband Lulu. He's a vegetarian and I'm not. So I usually try to make a meatless equivalent for him and the vegetarians in the house. Last week, I cooked carrot rolls; they were obviously vegetarians but also nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free and gluten free. This dish is the meat equivalent I prepared for little Aria and myself and even though the meals look similar; the ingredients are completely opposite!

I prepared the meat filling with ground turkey, wood ear mushrooms, breadcrumbs and onions. I wrapped the rolls in the same manner as the vegan version with slices of carrots but looking back, I should have rolled them with smoked salmon for an even fancier flair. Both results were a success and everyone in our home found a dish that suits their diet!

In Vietnamese cuisine, just as in many other types of cuisines, the use of banana leaves in cooking dates back centuries. Back when there was no aluminum foil, parchment paper or wax paper, the thick leaves were what cooks used to pack, steam, grill, bake and serve their food. Isn't that a smart, eco-friendly way to make good use of biodegradable, natural materials? Plus, the banana leaves give awondderful additional aroma to the food. If you ever visit Vietnam, you'll notice how commonly food is wrapped in banana leaves. Bánh giò is no exception, and it's one of my favorite Vietnamese street foods.

Bánh giò is a steamed rice cake, often filled with meat. This time, I filled them with ground chicken (a more authentic version would use pork). In any case, the meat is cooked with wood ear mushrooms. It's not the prettiest meal, but it's a flavorful, earthy (thanks to the mushrooms), light, gluten-free dish.

The key to achieving the perfect texture is to add a bit of cornstarch to the rice flour to firm up the dough, then flavor it with warm chicken broth and cook it on the stove before shaping the rice cakes.

Since my husband Lulu was out of town last weekend, I had a few girlfriends over to celebrate the Lunar New Year (a week late!). Next week, we're all going to a Vietnamese charity concert and everyone was talking about how they'd fit into their áo dài, the traditional Vietnamese outfit. I've been back to the gym regularly to do squats and get a solid workout and I just made sure the food would please my weight-conscious crowd.

The menu I served wasn't fussy at all and I tried to satisfy everyone's diet: we started with easy, delicious, look-and-feel-your-best meatballs. I also made cháođồ biển (seafood rice soup with seabass, shrimp, squid and scallops), along with a kale salad.

What was in the meatballs, you ask? I created a ground mixture of veal, turkey, flax seeds and quinoa and served with spicy sweet potatoes.

My childhood friend Alexia and her husband Olivier are visiting this week. I've been cooking with whatever is available in our vegetable garden. Olivier harvested lots of ripe radishes and we gathered the "fanes de radish" (the leaves) and made an almond pesto.

I served turkey meatball appetizers sandwiched between the pesto (that acted like a glue) and slices of radish. I garnished the appetizers with sliced almonds as a reminder of the flavor of the pesto.